Congress must protect idea of India: Sonia Gandhi hits out at Modi govt

Sonia Gandhi was chairing a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) Meeting at 10 Janpath in New Delhi on Tuesday. (PTI)

Congress president Sonia Gandhi hit out at the Modi government on Tuesday, saying there is a brazen campaign to straitjacket the whole country into a regressive and narrow-minded world view.

Chairing a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, Gandhi also asserted that the Congress must be ready to protect the essence and idea of India “which this government is seeking to extinguish”.

The meeting, which was attended by party vice president Rahul Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, discussed the current political situation and the upcoming presidential election.

On the upcoming presidential poll, Gandhi said it was essential that the person to be elected to the high office should protect the Constitution.

“In a few weeks we will be electing the President and vice-president of our republic. In times such as these, it is even more essential that those who occupy this august office protect the Constitution,” she told Congress leaders.

Gandhi said that former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi other colleagues have met the leaders of like-minded parties to decide on a candidate for the presidential election.

Top Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram, Ambika Soni, Janardan Dwiwedi and other CWC members were also present at the meeting.